Kingo Shoji took off from Rabaul at 5 pm the next day in
Emily No. W 47. Another aircraft W 37 had to return to base with an engine
problem. Kingo Shoji pressed on to Townsville arriving
over the city at at 20,000 feet at 12.27 am under a full moon.

Four American Airacobras from the 8th
Fighter Group were given a 30 minute early radar warning prior to W 47's arrival over Townsville. They had reached the necessary altitude 15
minutes prior to W 47's arrival. With the aid of 10 searchlights, Captain Robert L.
Harriger (Aircraft W 183) and John D. Mainwaring (Aircraft W 63) attacked Kingo Shoji at
the same time. Shoji dived to 18,00 feet in an attempt to avoid the 0.3 and 0.5
calibre machine gun fire from Harriger and Mainwaring. They finally went down to
12,000 feet to avoid the American Airacobras and escape the searchlights.

Harriger was able to continue to chase the Emily after it
escaped the searchlights but he ran out of fuel and ammunition and had to return to Garbutt airfield. During his last encounter with the Emily,
Harriger managed to start a small fire in the tail of the Emily with his machine-gun
fire. However it extinguished after a short while.

The Emily dumped seven bombs in Cleveland Bay, between the
shore and Magnetic Island. By this time HMAS Swan had opened up with her 4 inch main
guns. An eighth bomb exploded near the racecourse, shattering a few windows in the
area. Many interested locals gathered to inspect the large crater. An Army
investigation team went over the area the next day to find metal bomb fragments.

Shoji headed 130 kms out to sea and returned to Rabaul at
6.50 a.m. Shoji's report claimed "Hit more than 10 times by two Hurricanes.
Dropped three bombs near the aerodrome causing three fires, and five more on the city,
igniting two more."

29 July 1942
0025hrs
2325hrs Reached target
area, Townsville. From time
of entering attack bearing until 2345hrs
caught in beams of 10 searchlights
0028hrs
2328hrs Attacked by two
Hurricanes 7 times until
2344hrs, one was hit more than 10 times.

P-39 Airacobra - Japanese thought they were Hiurricanes

After the third raid on Townsville by Kingo
Shoji in Emily W 47, Captain John D. Mainwaring told the local Townsville press "If
we had been a bit less excited I guess we could have made sure of it. We came in
together and got our first burst home from the tail, along to the underpart of the hull.
Bob was a little cramped for space, so he slipped underneath me, and I could see
his tracers coming up and hitting the side. I got in so close that I was afraid I
would collide with her. She was a big ship, and, stuck out there in a pool of
lights, she looked like a model. There was not a shadow on her anywhere."

"Our first burst silenced the rear gunner, and one of our shells seemed
to explode inside the ship. Afterwards only the top turret kept in firing."

Captain John D. Mainwaringfrom Pennsylvania, USA

John Mainwaring later flew combat missions
against Japanese Zero fighters in May and June 1942 at Port Moresby in New Guinea. At the
time of the Townsville Raids John Mainwaring had already clocked up two enemy aircraft
shot down. Manwaring used to live in Florida, USA a number of years ago.

Captain Robert (Bob) L. Harriger also later flew
combat missions against Japanese Zero fighters in May and June 1942 at Port Moresby in New
Guinea. At the time of the Townsville Raids John Mainwaring had already clocked up
one enemy aircraft shot down. Harriger eventually reached the rank of colonel in the
US Air Force after the war and died in 1984.

Captain Bob Harriger
from Rose Bush, Michigan, USA

Captain Falletta was on R & R in Townsville during the Japanese raids. He had just finished
a combat tour in New Guinea. "The aircraft was bracketed by three
searchlights over the town. I believe the Australian anti-aircraft batteries on
Magnetic Island were not allowed to open fire. Apparently they did not want to give
away their position for just one aircraft. They were waiting for a large formation
to arrive."

Falletta and two other
pilots took off in their Airacobras to intercept the Japanese flying boat.

"We got airborne and could still see the Jap in the
searchlight beam. It was a large four-engined seaplane. We closed in and
started shooting at it, but we could not bring it down. It was pretty difficult as
our aircraft had no night flying equipment and it was my first attempt at night combat.
I will never forget that flight."

Captain Charles Falletta

Falletta's Airacobra in about 1963This aircraft was later restored by Syd Beck

In an earlier incident, Lieutenant Falletta was
flying one of 6 Airacobras that crash landed when attempting to ferry their aircraft to
New Guinea from Townsville. They took off from Townsville on 1 May 1942 but ran into
bad weather. Lieutenant Falletta and his friend Lieutenant Walter Harvey both crash landed inland and the other 4 aircraft travelled east and belly
landed on the beach north of Cooktown. Eleven Airacobras also crash landed under
similar circumstances on26 April 42.

Photo:- Townsville Daily Bulletin

The above tree was near the Veterinary Research Laboratory at Oonoomba.

Two coconut
trees were damaged near the 3 metre square crater left by the Japanese bomb. A
nearby area, known as coconut grove,contained a poultry farm that produced
chickens for the U.S. forcesin the Townsville
area.

The photos were supplied by Dorothy Young of
Oonoonba. The book contains lots ofinterestinginformation about the wartime activities in the Oonoonba
area.

The crater left by the Japanese 500lb
"Daisy Cutter" bomb.

Shrapnel was widespread but the only casualty
was one of the palms at the
Experimental Farm coconut grove. The coconut grove has
now all disappeared.

The line of coconut trees forming
the coconut grove were all damaged in Cyclone Althea. There is only one of the
original coconut trees now left near the complex. Some new coconut trees have
been planted inside a fenced area that surrounds the bomb crater. (see photos
below). There is a plaque on a rock on the southern side of Rooney's
Bridge which commemorates this Japanese bombing raid on Townsville. It was
installed by the Townsville City Council.

Plaque on southern side of
Rooney's Bridge.

The plaque on the rock memorial

I've assumed that the following photographs were taken at Oonoomba after the
third Japanese bombing raid. Is this the case, or were the photographs taken near Many
Peaks Range near Pallarenda after the second bombing raid?

The search for bomb fragments after an
unsuccessful raid on Townsville on 27 July 1942.

Closeup of the onlookers - Do you
recognise anyone?

The following photographs of the above Japanese
bomb crater were taken on approximately 2 February 1999. I would like to thank,
Stephen Johnson, the Manager of the Oonoonba Veterinary Laboratory, for showing me the
remains of the Japanese bomb crater.

The bomb crater on 2 February
1999 at the
Oonoonba DPI, Agricultural Production property